Asian Design and Manufacturing Corp. vs. Calleja

Facts:

Upon petition of Buklod ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP), one of several labor unions at ADMACOR'S factory, the Labor Relations Division, Regional Office VII (Cebu City) ordered a certification election to be conducted on May 21, 1986, a regular business day. Several factory workers of ADMACOR (petitioner) held a strike. No previous notice of strike was filed by the factory workers with the Bureau of Labor Relations Regional Office. On May 20,1986, ADMACOR filed a petition) for the indefinite resetting of the scheduled certification election, which petition was not acted upon by the Labor Relations Division.

The scheduled certification election was conducted, despite the strike. Of the 423 workers who voted, 413 voted for Southern Philippines Federation of Labor (SPFL) as their exclusive bargaining agent, On the same day, ADMACOR filed a complaint for illegal strike.

ADMACOR filed a petition to declare the certification election conducted on May 21, 1986 as null and void on the ground that there being a strike by some workers in the premises of the factory on the day of the certification election, such day cannot be considered a regular business day, pursuant to Section 2, Rule VI, Book V of the Omnibus Rules Implementing the Labor Code.

Med-Arbiter dismissed ADMACOR's complaint to annul the May 21, 1986 certification election and certified SPFL as the sole and exclusive bargaining agent of the rank and file employees of ADMACOR. This dismissal was appealed by ADMACOR to the Bureau of Labor Relations.

Director Calleja of BLR affirmed Med-Arbiter.

Issue: WON there was compliance to the procedural requirement that election shall be set during a regular business day

Ruling:

Yes, the Court agrees with the said ruling of respondent Director upholding the validity of the certification election despite the strike. In the first place, since petitioner invoked the jurisdiction of the Bureau when it filed its election protest before the Med-Arbiter, it cannot now be allowed to repudiate the same jurisdiction after failing to obtain affirmative relief. Moreover, it can not be denied that an actual election was conducted on said date where, of the 423 workers who voted, 413 voted for SPFL as its exclusive bargaining agent. In the "Minutes of the Certification Election among the Rank and File Employees of Asian Design Manufacturing Corp.", the representatives of the contending unions, and of the Ministry of Labor even attested that the election was peaceful and orderly and none of the parties registered any protest on any matter concerning the election proceedings. There is thus, no valid reason to annul the certification election.

On the pretext that the issue deposited in this petition is the lack of jurisdiction of the Bureau in dismissing its protest against the certification election despite the pendency of the case before the Labor Arbiter on the validity of the strike, petitioner seeks exception to the rule that an employer has no standing to question a certification election. The Court reiterates the rule that such concern over the validity of certification election must come from the employees themselves.